“Following a press conference in which Mr. McCain threatened sanctions, the leader of the Egyptian Popular Current party, Hamdeen Sabahi, who is a co-leader of the ruling National Salvation Front, described Mr. McCain as “a senile old man.”

So really, really badly. A visit to North Korea would have gone better. But McCain and Graham, acknowledging none of this, decided to pen an op-ed for Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post.

“But as we said again this week in Cairo, we find it difficult to describe the circumstances of Morsi’s removal from office as anything other than a coup. Unsuccessful leaders in a democracy should leave office by losing elections,” McCain and Graham write.

They have a point. Unless the unsuccessful leader attempted to seize absolute power and had political opponents tortured and beaten. In that case there’s plenty of precedent to go Ceausescu on the president.

“Democracy is the only viable path to lasting stability, national reconciliation, sustainable economic growth and the return of investment and tourism in Egypt,” the duo write, ignoring the fact that democracy seems to have destroyed all these things.

“Indeed, it is worth remembering — especially when the American mind has refocused on the real and persistent threat posed by al-Qaeda — that its leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is a former member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood who was radicalized during the violent crackdowns and detentions of Brotherhood leaders by previous Egyptian regimes,” McCain and Graham write.

In fact all Al Qaeda’s leaders were Muslim Brotherhood members. Was Bin Laden radicalized? Or was this a difference in method, rather than goal?

And if so, then isn’t calling for a Muslim Brotherhood democracy collaboration with the end goals of Al Qaeda?

Richardson and Schmidt arrive in North Korea today – Lenin used to call them “useful idiots”

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.

William Norman

“We don’t care about death,” said Galal on Monday afternoon, her hijab resting underneath a rainbow-coloured parasol, her son Saif tugging at her clothes. “We believe in one thing. When your time to die comes, you will die. So will you die as a courageous martyr, or as a coward? That’s the point: we want to die as martyrs.”

Despite the real threat of further bloodshed, the protesters are going nowhere. “When I heard that the sit-in might be attacked on Monday, I came back running” said Moaz Ahmed, a teacher who helps to police the four entrances to the camp, where there are bag and ID checks. “I don’t care if I die or not.”

“If we leave the square, it will be worse than the 90s,” said Suzanne Abdel Qadir, referring to the brutal Hosni Mubarak-era crackdown against the Islamists. “We’re back to the days of oppression under Mubarak. If we go home then the fight is over.” Morsi’s critics point out that while Islamists had an easier time during his presidency, he never attempted to tackle wider police brutality.

“I’m prepared to be here forever, until our president comes back,” said Aza Galal. “We all voted for democracy. And then because some people gathered in Tahrir Square, they put our votes in the rubbish bins.

Rank-and-file Islamists at Rabaa refused to countenance the thought of the Brotherhood’s leadership agreeing to a compromise. “No, no, no,” said Aza Gala. “No one from the Muslim Brotherhood will agree to it. People died for this cause. If [the leadership] agree to these compromises, people will leave them.”

JacksonPearson

Senator McCain and Senator Graham’s trip to Egypt was a waste of time. They attempted to dictate another Obama failed foreign policy them. Egyptian military are well versed in the Muslim Brotherhood’s camel dung.